These few weeks of January have left me breathless. The New Year infused fresh enthusiasm and my head was reeling with ideas I have been wanting to try out. And also things I wanted to kickstart with the onset of the new year.
I mean is it only me or do you also feel this unexplained optimism throbbing inside of you?
There’s a festival or two every month. We just finished celebrating Sankranti, the harvest festival, which is celebrated all over the country and is called by different names like Sankranti or Makar Sankranti or Pongal. A fun fact about Sankranti – black is the favoured colour (since Sankranti falls on the last day of the solstice and is supposed to be the coldest, black absorbs all the heat and keeps you warm). It also marks the beginning of the spring season. You could see the sky dotted with different colours as the kites competed with each other to reach the sun first, their colourful tails trailing.
Then came the Saraswati puja or Basant Panchami. This coincided with the 74th Republic Day of India on 26th Jan. Maa Sarawati was born on the day of Basant Panchami and hence Saraswati pooja is also celebrated on this day. She is the goddess of learning, music and art. That’s the reason it’s celebrated in schools. It’s considered an auspicious day to start something new. Great! So what did I decide to do? I decided to start with this Newsletter. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works out!!
Interesting article
The headline piqued my interest (I’m partial to anything with history). The names of Oldest Cities in the World was certainly not surprising. If you do enjoy reading such articles, go ahead and read it. But I also read about a new site discovered along the south-eastern coast of India which predates even these cities mentioned in this article. I’ll post the link if I can find it (didn’t save it, my bad!)
Quote for the moment
“Without music life would be a mistake.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
This quote just jumped at me when I opened my blog page. And it resonates so well with how I look at music. Listening to music puts me in a happy space (though it does slow down my working speed as I end up singing along). According to an article by John Hopkins, music can reduce stress and anxiety and even reduce pain. Isn’t that amazing? Who thought singing along with Kenny Rogers could do all that?
The book I finished
I finally have been able to finish Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, by Sebastian Faulks. It’s a beautiful coming-of-age story, a love story that travels through the tumulous historical events of the First World War. It’s partly sad, but even in the depths of darkness, there was hope as long as the belief in humanity remained. Even when they were in the deep underground or in the vermin-infested trenches, it was Wraysford’s optimism that kept the human spirit from extinguishing. The graphic descriptions can leave one disturbed. Reading the part where the men write letters home before the war breaks out left me teary-eyed.
Any suggestions on what to read next?
Work in Progress
Things have been a little slow and no, it’s not because of Kenny Rogers or anyone else. I guess still haven’t gotten over all the celebrations of the last few months. Work is going on at a placid pace. Hopefully, it’ll pick up now as I’ve got a whole lot planned out. Have launched two more products at the shop. Planning a mini-event next month.
Juggling with a few ideas. Need to work on them to decide the way forward.
Enjoy. Work hard. Chase your dreams. Till next time,
